Wear and porosity of electrodeposited gold contacts: the effect of laser glazing the substrate metal

Laser glazing is a process in which a thin layer of surface material of a solid is melted, then rapidly cooled; this can be achieved by moving a sample across a focused laser beam. A brief study of some properties of electrodeposited gold that are important to electric contacts was made in which laser glazing was performed on nickel and copper-nickel-tin substrates. It was found that the intrinsic porosity of thin gold coatings and their resistance to abrasive wear were degraded by laser glazing compared to these characteristics when unglazed substrates were used. This can be ascribed to the surface roughening and waviness, and to the softening produced by the thermal treatment